Another pause, and then, "Yes, thank you." Something that ran on a
great many thin, twinkling legs brought in a low stool and ran out
again. The interview went on, a meaningless sequence of short questions
and comments by Samson, each followed by a long silence. "Yes, of
course, that's true." ... "I see" ... "How clear that is now" ... "But
in the case of war" ... After a while, Samson's speech began to grow a
little thick. He stumbled over occasional words, but always recovered.
After a long time, Samson said, "The word will be spread. My government
will want to know about your needs and your history, so that we can
receive you properly. Will you show me through your ship, and tell
me something about yourselves?" The view turned toward the doorway,
approached it and went through into a long corridor.
Midge closed the sending circuit between herself and Samson. "Charlie,
are you all right?" she whispered. If he was acting, she told herself
miserably, it was a magnificent performance. Under the fuzziness of his
speech was something else ... an awe, a quiet joy.
"All right, Midge," said Samson's voice quietly, naturally. "Don't
worry."
A long succession of rooms: control chamber, power plant, a garden with
plants unlike any that Midge had seen before, star charts, transparent
tanks full of murky fluid ... Samson's hand, and a narrow strip of
something being put into it. Patterns of dots on the strip. Samson's
voice: "What does it mean?" Then more corridors, more rooms. Finally
Samson's voice again, weak and hollow. "Feeling rocky, Midge. Coming
out."
* * * * *
It was Harlow's voice asking, "How is he now?" The "now" was an irony,
since even at second-order speeds, his voice had taken fourteen minutes
to reach them, and he would not hear the answer for another fourteen.
Samson, in orange pajamas, very pale, said, "Ready to talk, Papa." He
looked at the ceiling. "Don't think I need the hypno. I can remember
most of it. Fuzzy--a dreamlike quality to it--but I think it's almost
all there."
"I've already had you under hypno," said Midge quietly. "As soon as I
got you inside."